13 Sep
2002
13 Sep
'02
2:58 a.m.
On Thu, Sep 12, 2002 at 11:35:26PM -0400, R. D. Davis wrote:
Quothe John Allain, from writings of Thu, Sep 12, 2002
at 10:28:28PM -0400:
AFAIK it is already illegal in the US of A to mess with any
eavesdropping equipment of the police/FBI/.gov you may happen to find
in, on or connected to your property (yeah right - and the big bad drug
lord _of_ _course_ leaves the microphone in his living room in place and
keeps discussing his drug shipments from south amerika there - after
all, he's a law abiding criminal *manical laughter*). Or so I've read
somewhere.
There's probably a good story here, but one
that I personally
haven't lived... For those of us who shop at Hamfests, you
may have heard that owning and operating certain types of legal
radio equipment before WWII apparently became illegal after it started.
Illegal to own it? Zog! When are we going to start hearing that
owning computers with mass storage devices, computers designed to use
mass storage devices, or mass storage devices, are illegal acts? How
soon before the illegal posession of "controlled devices" will be as
serious, or more serious, a crime as the illegal posession of
"controlled substances?" Next, it will be illegal (or at least easier
to get caught... it's probably already illegal) to open up one's cable
TV converter box to check for hidden microphones and cameras. How long before we're all going to have to begin
using "internet
appliances" so that we can't do subversive things like keeping backups
of our own data? Will it soon become a federal felony to use
computers that aren't connected to the Internet all of the time so
that they can be spied on at any time?
There was a nice logo spoof of the NSA somewhere with the embedded text:
"1984 - we're behind schedule". But they sure work hard to catch up.
Regards,
Alex.
--
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison